During the February 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation, EA and Velan Studios surprised fans with a new dodgeball-inspired take on the team-based multiplayer genre. Knockout City turns dodgeball matches into Dodgebrawls, where players duke it out for dominance in Dodgebrawl matches across Knockout City, beaming curveballs, lobbing literal ticking time-bombs, and even throwing their own teammates at opponents to secure victory.
Knockout City's Dodgebrawls see two teams of three go at it on a best-of-three basis, with the first team to reach 10 knockouts winning a match. While the game won't be entirely free-to-play, it follows a flat-play format, where any cosmetics or rewards purchased or earned have no effect on gameplay. As Knockout City nears its official release tomorrow, a new pre-launch trailer has revealed the game's plans for Season 1.
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The new trailer released by EA details Knockout City's cross-platform launch, starting with a special Block Party event, giving fans the chance to partake in a 10-day free trial with their friends before deciding to purchase the game. In the Block Party event, players will be able to earn rewards ahead of the start of Season 1 on May 25, which adds the new Jukebox Junction map, competitive League Play, Crew Contracts, and weekly Playlists.
Jukebox Junction will be the first map added to the game upon the launch of Season 1. The jukebox-themed train station will have players not only looking out for oncoming dodgeballs, but keeping an eye on incoming trains as well. Knockout City's League Play is where competitive players will find themselves participating in more cutthroat ranked matches. Here, players will be able to Dodgebrawl in the standard 3v3 matches, or even take each other on in 1v1 standoffs. Ranking up in tiers will also net players new rewards, like in-game currency, Gliders, Taunts, and more.
Knockout City Season 1 will also add new Crew Contracts, which act as ways to earn even more XP and rewards by playing with friends in the game's clan-like Crews. Finally, Season 1 will kick off weekly game modes called Playlists for players to experience throughout the season. These limited-time modes will change up the fundamentals of Knockout City, like having teams compete to nab points instead of knockouts.
Fans subscribed to either EA Play or Xbox Game Pass will have immediate access to Knockout City on launch day. Although the concept of a competitive dodgeball game has been visited in the past, it will be interesting to see if Knockout City can nail it when the game launches tomorrow.
Knockout City launches May 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.